Let us begin with a small recap from the previous Torah Portion. First Aaron and his sons were dedicated to YHVH Next, the children of Israel were dedicated to YHVH as a congregation of Israel. No longer is it just the 12 tribes they are one as a nation. It is much the same as nations are formed. First as city-states, then they allied with neighboring city-states. Over time they formed a nation.
Then YHVH told the priest what their role and responsibility were.
Lev 10:10-11 EHV
(10) You must distinguish between what is holy and what is common, what is unclean and what is clean,
(11) and you must teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them through Moses.”
As with any true citizen, there are rights and responsibilities that everyone is expected to live under. According to this Torah Portion, we see a continuation of clean and unclean laws. YHVH separates the clean and the unclean.
We start with the woman giving birth to a boy or a girl and what is required. This is not the way of the world; no, we get to do these commands.
We should call it a joy and not a burden. The next set of commands deals with discharges First it was to the men and then to the women. Firstly, for having children and her monthly flow.
Remember it was not a sin to have children these laws were mainly about being ceremony unclean. These commands should be considered foreign to us. Rather they are there to protect us from YHVH consuming us for approaching in a state of being unclean.
So here is the situation are we unclean just because we are the marketplace and people are everywhere? No, it is only when we sit or lay where that person has been. The only requirement is that we wash our clothes, and we are unclean until evening.
Mat 9:20-22 EHV
(20) Just then, a woman who had been suffering from chronic bleeding for twelve years came up from behind and touched the fringe of his garment.
(21) For she had been saying to herself, “If I just touch his garment, I will be healed.”
(22) When Jesus turned around and saw her, he said, “Take heart, daughter! Your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed from that moment.
Luk 8:42-48 EHV
(42) because he had an only daughter who was about twelve years old and she was dying. As he went, the crowds pressed tightly against him. (43) There was a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, yet although she had paid physicians all she had to live on, she could not be healed by anyone.
(44) She approached Jesus from behind and touched the fringe of his garment. Immediately her flow of blood stopped.
(45) And Jesus said, “Who touched me?” As everyone was denying it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the crowds are pressing in and crowding you, yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
(46) But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, because I know that power has gone out from me.”
(47) When the woman saw that she did not escape his notice, she came trembling and fell down before Jesus. In the presence of all the people she told him why she had touched him and how she was healed immediately.
(48) And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
If you notice what was going on, Yeshua was in the middle of the crowd. Did Yeshua become unclean from the woman? It appears He did not.
Col 2:20-22 EHV
(20) If you died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, why do you submit to its rules, as if you were still living in the world?
(21) “Do not touch!” “Do not taste!” “Do not handle!”
(22) All of these rules end in destruction when they are used, because they are in accord with human commands and teachings.
What religion has done is that they added to the Torah of YHVH, in many cases circumvented it! These are the man-made rule that Paul is talking about here.
Back to Luke if Yeshua was unclean by what the Torah said then why did Jairus allow Yeshua, who the woman touch him, Then after taking the girl by the hand, who was dead. Did that say that He was unclean? According to the Torah, yes. Perhaps we are missing something here.
Act 10:10-33 EHV
(10) He became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance.
(11) He saw heaven opened and an object coming down. It was like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
(12) In it were all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of the sky.
(13) Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”
(14) But Peter said, “Certainly not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
(15) Yet the voice came to him a second time: “What God has made clean, you must not continue to call unclean.”
(16) This happened three times, and then the object was immediately taken up to heaven.
(17) While Peter was inwardly perplexed about what the vision he had seen might mean, just then the men who were sent by Cornelius arrived. They had asked for directions to Simon’s house and were standing at the gate.
(18) They called out, asking if Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there as a guest.
(19) While Peter was still deep in thought about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “See, three men are looking for you!
(20) Now get up, go downstairs, and don’t hesitate to go with them, because I have sent them.”
(21) Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. Why have you come?”
(22) They replied, “Cornelius the centurion is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is highly respected by the whole Jewish nation. He was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to listen to what you have to say.”
(23) So Peter invited them in and received them as guests. The next day, Peter got ready and left with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along with him.
(24) The following day, he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. (25) As Peter was about to enter the house, Cornelius met him, fell at his feet, and worshipped him.
(26) But Peter helped him up and said, “Stand up! I too am just a man.”
(27) While he talked with him, Peter went inside and found many people gathered there.
(28) He said to them, “You understand how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to associate with or visit anyone who is not a Jew. But God showed me that I should no longer continue to call anyone impure or unclean.
(29) That is why I came without objection when you sent for me. May I ask why you sent for me?”
(30) Cornelius replied, “From four days ago to this hour, I have been fasting. At the ninth hour, I was praying in my house when a man in shining clothes suddenly stood in front of me.
(31) He said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your gifts to the poor have been remembered in God’s sight.
(32) Therefore send to Joppa and call for Simon, who is called Peter. He is staying as a guest in the house of Simon the tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.’
(33) So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now then, we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything that the Lord has instructed you to say.”
Was Peter unclean because he entered the house of a gentile? No, the lesson is that YHVH does not declare us unclean unless we have a discharge, skin disease, or come into contact with a dead body.
If we touch these people all we need to do is bathe and wash our clothes. We are unclean until evening. So where did Peter that it was unlawful for him to enter into a gentile’s house?
This is from the teachings of the Rabbis By the way of shedding some light, I found two references in the Apograph writings
Tobit 1:10-12 KJVA
(10) And when we were carried away captives to Nineve, all my brethren and those that were of my kindred did eat of the bread of the Gentiles.
(11) But I kept myself from eating;
(12) Because I remembered God with all my heart.
Judith 12:1-4 KJVA
(1) Then he commanded to bring her in where his plate was set; and bade that they should prepare for her of his own meats, and that she should drink of his own wine.
(2) And Judith said, I will not eat thereof, lest there be an offence: but provision shall be made for me of the things that I have brought.
(3) Then Holofernes said unto her, If thy provision should fail, how should we give thee the like? for there be none with us of thy nation. (4) Then said Judith unto him As thy soul liveth, my lord, thine handmaid shall not spend those things that I have, before the Lord work by mine hand the things that he hath determined.
From these two references, we see that this is not a Torah law rather Peter was convinced that is what should be done. I could not find anything in the Talmud. No doubt that the Rabbis taught this as a law. Peter struggled with this to the point that Paul got in his face on one occasion.
Through this life we will encounter hundreds of people who are in various states of uncleanness, are we going to pass them by and ignore them, or will be like the good Samaritan? The choice is ours. We can choose to be like Yeshua, or we can be like the Pharisees.
Luk 10:25-37 EHV
(25) Just then, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
(26) “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “What do you read there?”
(27) He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.”
(28) He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
(29) But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
(30) Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
(31) It just so happened that a priest was going down that way. But when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
(32) In the same way, a Levite also happened to go there, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
(33) A Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he felt sorry for the man.
(34) He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took care of him.
(35) The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return.’
(36) Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?”
(37) “The one who showed mercy to him,” he replied. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
In this Torah Portion, we see that people can have varying things wrong with them. Yet YHVH cares for them and He protects the community at large. What a good King He is! So, when seeing someone in need do not pass them by, even if he is your enemy. You do know you may win them into the Kingdom of YHVH. Isn’t that what this is all about? Pleasing the King must be in our foremost thinking. We must love Him with our whole hearts, mind, and soul. Blessings to you.
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